Seven sailing into Royal Hamilton Yacht Club Hall of Fame
The Royal Hamilton Yacht Club will be inducting seven past and present members into their Hall of Fame on Saturday, the first such induction since COVID started, and it will most especially honour several people behind the club's legendary sailing training program.
Because of the prominence of the sailing program in the recognition, the club is encouraging former sailing students as well as former and current sailing training volunteers to attend.
Aside from the three inductees who championed the training program, the Hall of Fame will also welcome three national Olympic team sailors from the Hamilton club and one two-time Canada's Cup winner.
Larry Woods represented Canada in sailing in both the 1976 and 1980 Olympic Games; Will Jones and Evan DePaul were on the 2020 team, and Tony Ronza Jr. won the Canada's Cup in 1981 and then again in 1984.
That three of these inductions - Larry Woods, Will Jones, and Evan DePaul - are individuals who represented RHYC at the Olympics means that the number of Olympic Hall of Famers in our club is increased to seven," says Robert Mazza, chair of the RHYC's Heritage Committee which selected the inductees.
Very few yacht clubs in Canada can boast seven Olympic sailors," he added.
Tony Ronza continued RHYC success in the Canada's Cup started by RHYC Hall of Fame member Don Green, making RHYC the only other Canadian yacht club (outside of the Royal Canadian Yacht Club in Toronto) to have ever won that prestigious trophy, not once, but twice."
The inductees who helped found and further sailing training at the RHYC are Hugh Brown, who started the club's junior sailing program in the 1950s; Rolf Essig who re-established the junior sailing program in 1984 after the club emerged from its financial challenges; and the beloved Kathy Crowder who expanded the sailing training program in the 1990s to include the graduates of junior sailing.
Through their efforts and initiative, and with the help of innumerable volunteers, the program they started and re-established was recognized three times as the best junior sailing program in Ontario," says Mazza. It was twice recognized as the best program in Canada."
Saturday's induction will happen at a special reception upstairs at the RHYC, the Waterfront Banquet and Conference Centre. Tickets are $25 and include Prosecco and hors d'oeuvres.
It will be the third and largest of the club's Hall of Fame inductions, which have also taken place in 2015 and 2018.
The Royal Hamilton Yacht Club is located at 555 Bay St. North in Hamilton. Visit www.rhyc.ca.
Jeff Mahoney is a Hamilton-based reporter and columnist covering culture and lifestyle stories, commentary and humour for The Spectator.jmahoney@thespec.com